Isles of Dragons? What's your Dragonsworn hero class specs idea?

[wanax]

they also now have ebyssian, a convenient faction leader for some new black dragons that just want to go their own way, eh?

wrathion for the alliance, ebyssian for the horde.

Didn’t think of that good point

[Triceron]

I'd love the idea of a FF-style Dragoon class in the game, but not sure how that would pan out in WoW. Aerial attacks are a pain to work into the game.

My vision of a Dragonsworn would be Wrathion's personal vanguard; a champion he molds into a protector of the world. In Marvel terms, Wrathion is the Nick Fury and the Dragonsworn is Captain America with a (less powerful) Infinity Gauntlet. They are mortal champions granted the powers over Magic, Time, Life and Dream, and trained under the Black Dragonflight. They consider themselves the new Guardians of Azeroth.

A lot of people think each spec should be divided into an Aspect color, or for the Dragonsworn to stick with one color, but I think they should be like Shamans who use all powers in tandem rather than DK's or Mages who specialize in one type at a time. There's a lot of gameplay potential from comboing each of the elements.

Lore
The Dragonsworn is loyal to Wrathion and the Black Dragonflight. They are not under the command of the other Dragon Aspects, and are actually using stolen power. The powers of each dragonflight are granted through a 'Soulstone', each based on a dragon who has sacrficed themselves for the greater good. Eranikus of the Green, Vaelastrasz/Korialstrasz of the Red, Tarecgosa of the Blue and Soridormi (who is still alive but would be killed off) of the Bronze. The Stones are contained in an artifact created out of the shards of the Dragonsoul; a Talisman or Gauntlet that lets them channel the power.

Notable Dragonsworn - Dornaa and Salandria, the Draenei and Blood Elf girls from Childrens Week quest. They both hint at befriending or owning a dragon. The Bronze dragons also tried to kill them for 'things they do in the future', so I think stealing power from each aspect and working under Wrathion would be a good reason. This way, the Dragonsworn isn't a total goody-two-shoes Paladin type who simply champions an aspect, they're more of a means-to-an-end type with a noble pursuit. They are also vetted to avoid going down the dark path of revenge as a Demon Hunter would. This would reflect Wrathion's style of 'forget the past and forge a new future'.


Gameplay

Each spec is divided into Roles rather than power theme.

Abilities work off of a modified DK Rune system. Each Aspect stone has its own cooldown, and abilities are color coded. Some abilities can refresh stones or grant temporary unlimited use.

You can Attune yourself to one color, giving the Stone colors extra charges so you can use them more often, and gaining some passive bonuses (like in a Stance). Attunements can also augment core abilities, like the element/damage type of Flame attacks or the passive effect of a Healing spell.

Aspect colors can also synergize off each other by comboing effects. The order of spells being cast could affect damage output, similar to a Rogue using combos and finishers.
The gameplay is based on comboing all Aspect colors efficiently and effectively. Using them in a particular order could give more burst while using them in another order might be more effective for long-term sustained damage.

[Stormspellz]

that they stay in dnd and not come to wow.

[Unholyground]

Just remember all dragons take on a humanoid form so it would fit into the game as the others do pretty easily. They could avoid having a static color representation which would be far better for developing specs and having abilities from all the dragon flights by introducing sane chromatic dragons and weave the story into what Wrathion has been up to.

[thesmall001]

Urgh, I was doing so well, I let my account lapse and fade into obscurity. But you found the one topic that is my weakness: Class Fantasy Speculation

I'd make the Drakonid a new race. They'd be slimmed down from their Blackwing models, bringing them closer to the Aspect forms but less Elven and more draconic. Males would use a heavily modified Tauren skeleton (for the hunch and broader snout/maw) and females would use a heavily modified (8.2.5) Worgen skeleton (for the longer neck and longer snout/maw). They would have a scale-ridge customisation so you can choose whether to have elbow/knee/back ridges. Facial ridges would be separate and would replace hair, though some would include minor hair options. Skin colours would include some cross-flight colours because Wrathion used some of the Chromatic technology to transform you.

The introductory story would show you waking up having submitted to the process that Wrathion spent years perfecting. You will awaken with no memory, but it will be explained to you (by our sweet-talking Wrathion) that you were a mortal hero who dedicated their life to deeds of valour and honour. You journeyed alongside Wrathion for many years fighting faithfully in his service whilst he searched for a way to reinvigorate the dragon flights; but you were struck with mortal injuries in a siege for Wrathion's lair by Twilight Cultists. In a fit of desperation, he applied his unstable new thaumaturgy on you and a handful of your allies who also fell in the assault.

Naturally, by the end of the process, you'd start to be suspicious of Wrathion and the true nature of your "ascension". With indications being that Wrathion may actually be abducting mortals and experimenting on them unwillingly. But only bad mortals, of course, twilight cultists even?

These would have access to a very small number of classes (Mage, Druid, Shaman, Monk [Monks are just Druids, don't @ me] and Warrior) but they'd also have access to the new Hero Class: Dragonsworn. Dragonsworn would be a 5 spec class: One for each flight. Their introductory story would be unrelated to the Wrathion stuff and they'd first encounter the remaining Aspects plus Ebonhorn and Eranikus (?). They would charge you with investigating the Dragon Isles and Wrathion's suspicious activities whilst combating the forces of darkness in Azeroth, helping to maintain order.

The 5 specs would be:

Black - A slow dual-wield Earth-based Tank that has a crystal form and uses molten rock and shields to mitigate future damage.
Blue - A spell-blade melee class that uses one-handers and shields enhanced with arcane/kinetic magic.
Red - A reverse-Discipline Priest that does damage by healing allies.
Green - A caster DPS that accumulates Nightmares (dots) on enemies that eventually are consumed to increases damage taken from ALL allies.
Bronze - A specialist healer that only has absorb shields and "reversing" damage instead of heals, with access to unique support buffs.

What d'ya think?

[matrix123mko]

Lifebinder - heal, deals big damage for a healer, maybe reverse discipline priest who deals damage by healing
Earthwarder - strength tank, deals more damage when has low HP
Timekeeper - caster, long spellcast with proccs that reduce cast times, many CC

As they take their power from dragons, they later on unlock an abillity to transform to drakonid(metamorphosis) or bombard enemies from the sky(some long cooldown AoE).
Their connection to dragons gave them some specific body features, such as horns, scales(optional) or new hair colors. Imagine Alextrasza or Arcanagos model. Mix it with any race you want.

[Zandalariprelate]

I want humanoid dragons but as a race not just some heroic class, that is a lot of develop for just 1 niche thing.

[George Costanza]

I doubt we will get many more classes because that would mean we would need an entire class order hall plus campaign plus artifact appearance.

[Triceron]

I doubt we will get many more classes because that would mean we would need an entire class order hall plus campaign plus artifact appearance.

I think they could bypass that with making it a Hero class and starting zone set somewhere off-site during Legion's events. Personally, I don't think it makes sense starting them off as level 1 'noobs' if they are dragons or control powers of dragons.

[matrix123mko]

I'd love the idea of a FF-style Dragoon class in the game, but not sure how that would pan out in WoW. Aerial attacks are a pain to work into the game.

My vision of a Dragonsworn would be Wrathion's personal vanguard; a champion he molds into a protector of the world. In Marvel terms, Wrathion is the Nick Fury and the Dragonsworn is Captain America with a (less powerful) Infinity Gauntlet. They are mortal champions granted the powers over Magic, Time, Life and Dream, and trained under the Black Dragonflight. They consider themselves the new Guardians of Azeroth.

A lot of people think each spec should be divided into an Aspect color, or for the Dragonsworn to stick with one color, but I think they should be like Shamans who use all powers in tandem rather than DK's or Mages who specialize in one type at a time. There's a lot of gameplay potential from comboing each of the elements.

Lore
The Dragonsworn is loyal to Wrathion and the Black Dragonflight. They are not under the command of the other Dragon Aspects, and are actually using stolen power. The powers of each dragonflight are granted through a 'Soulstone', each based on a dragon who has sacrficed themselves for the greater good. Eranikus of the Green, Vaelastrasz/Korialstrasz of the Red, Tarecgosa of the Blue and Soridormi (who is still alive but would be killed off) of the Bronze. The Stones are contained in an artifact created out of the shards of the Dragonsoul; a Talisman or Gauntlet that lets them channel the power.

Notable Dragonsworn - Dornaa and Salandria, the Draenei and Blood Elf girls from Childrens Week quest. They both hint at befriending or owning a dragon. The Bronze dragons also tried to kill them for 'things they do in the future', so I think stealing power from each aspect and working under Wrathion would be a good reason. This way, the Dragonsworn isn't a total goody-two-shoes Paladin type who simply champions an aspect, they're more of a means-to-an-end type with a noble pursuit. They are also vetted to avoid going down the dark path of revenge as a Demon Hunter would. This would reflect Wrathion's style of 'forget the past and forge a new future'.


Gameplay

Each spec is divided into Roles rather than power theme.

Abilities work off of a modified DK Rune system. Each Aspect stone has its own cooldown, and abilities are color coded. Some abilities can refresh stones or grant temporary unlimited use.

You can Attune yourself to one color, giving the Stone colors extra charges so you can use them more often, and gaining some passive bonuses (like in a Stance). Attunements can also augment core abilities, like the element/damage type of Flame attacks or the passive effect of a Healing spell.

Aspect colors can also synergize off each other by comboing effects. The order of spells being cast could affect damage output, similar to a Rogue using combos and finishers.
The gameplay is based on comboing all Aspect colors efficiently and effectively. Using them in a particular order could give more burst while using them in another order might be more effective for long-term sustained damage.

You have invented a good gameplay idea. I like recreating rune system from WotLK and the addition of combo mechanic. Sounds complicated and fun. I'd like to hear about you spec ideas to this concept.

As for the story, I understand that you want them to be more "morally grey", but wouldn't it be easier to stick to the canon idea of pacts? However, I see that you wanted to explain why player has all specs. I also like that you used in-game hints as arguments, even if they are a bit stretched.

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I want humanoid dragons but as a race not just some heroic class, that is a lot of develop for just 1 niche thing.

But dragons are able to be all races, so there should be then many new races: orc dragon, dwarf dragon, void elf dragon, etc. Not to mention that dragons are different beings with different powers. Class makes more sense.

[Triceron]

You have invented a good gameplay idea. I like recreating rune system from WotLK and the addition of combo mechanic. Sounds complicated and fun. I'd like to hear about you spec ideas to this concept.

Thanks! Wrath was my fave expansion and I loved the openness of the gameplay. Even if it wasn't perfect, it still had the old Talent system so each 'spec' was still a loose definition and wasn't so cookie-cutter like it is now. Death Knights having 3 Tank/3DPS spec was what I had in mind, where the gameplay is fluid and you get to choose how to play your class. That's why I purposely leave this concept vague, to be open to any interpretation.

As for the story, I understand that you want them to be more "morally grey", but wouldn't it be easier to stick to the canon idea of pacts? However, I see that you wanted to explain why player has all specs. I also like that you used in-game hints as arguments, even if they are a bit stretched.

I'm not sure what you mean by canon idea of pacts. You mean sticking to Dragonflights?

I feel like someone who is a champion of all Dragonflights is too powerful and uninteresting. I wanted to avoid creating a Avatar (from Airbender) class, who is an appointed champion of the world. I twist that idea so that this is more of a Avengers type of character, a Vigilante who has noble intentions, more like Batman than Superman.

Ideally these guys get introduced in the expansion where we fight Old Gods/Void Lords, so we need to find someone who is resistant to corruption. We see Dragons get corrupted all the time by Nightmare or Infinity flight or Madness. That is the reason why Wrathion and the Dragonsworn steal powers from the Dragons rather than become gifted by them; The power they have is 'Borrowed' and can not be corrupted like Medivh. In my vision, the Stones contain the souls of Dragons who wish to be redeemed and 'Gift' their power to the Dragonsworn. If the Dragonsworn shows signs of an unpure heart, the gift would be taken away. It's the same underlying reason Frodo was tasked with bearing the Ring rather than Gandalf or Galadriel. This is like Captain America being gifted the Super Serum; the key is a strong heart that resists corruption. I think it would not be as interesting if it was just the Aspects appointing someone 'of a strong heart' like usual. Having Dragon Aspects not approve of the Dragonsworn gives them depth and conflict moving forward.

I think Medivh should also have a passing part in the class history, like maybe approving/questioning Wrathions motives in a out-of-frame cutscene. Wrathion tried something like this before with choosing Garrosh to build an army to fight the Legion. The Dragonsworn is Wrathion's way of learning from his mistakes, his 'Vision' to Garrosh's 'Ultron'.

[Yunaqt]

I mean this is totally never going to happen but how about

Talon: physical melee dps
Fang: magical melee dps
Scale: tank

Yeah this is a good idea, need more melee in the game imo. Far too many ranged classes already and not enough demand for them in raid.

[huth]

Yeah this is a good idea, need more melee in the game imo. Far too many ranged classes already and not enough demand for them in raid.

Especially since so far, we've never gotten any new melee classes beyond the initial ones.

[Killfainted]

Maybe a Dragon hunter class? Dual crossbows?

[muto]

We do not need more melee. The next class should be a pure ranged.

[Bathory]

I'm in for a Dragon civil war, which bleeds into the flights choosing sides.

[tripleh]

Lets just hope its not locked behind a grind/achievement. Let it be released like how pandas and races before were.

[Pandragon]

Before adding new classes they need to mechanically balance current ones. First of all, Legion brought 2 more melee dps spec. Which was a good diea for survival, but it needed to be a blanket change as well. Rogue need a spec changed to range for example. Anything for PVE is far too punishing on melee to fit the amount of melee specs we have in the game into a group, especially for any classes whose only option for dps is melee. if you're not obscenely overpowered, or have amazing utility, you're screwed.

[matrix123mko]

I feel like someone who is a champion of all Dragonflights is too powerful and uninteresting. I wanted to avoid creating a Avatar (from Airbender) class, who is an appointed champion of the world. I twist that idea so that this is more of a Avengers type of character, a Vigilante who has noble intentions, more like Batman than Superman.

I understand. Maybe you are right.

Ideally these guys get introduced in the expansion where we fight Old Gods/Void Lords, so we need to find someone who is resistant to corruption. We see Dragons get corrupted all the time by Nightmare or Infinity flight or Madness. That is the reason why Wrathion and the Dragonsworn steal powers from the Dragons rather than become gifted by them; The power they have is 'Borrowed' and can not be corrupted like Medivh. In my vision, the Stones contain the souls of Dragons who wish to be redeemed and 'Gift' their power to the Dragonsworn.

I like this idea.

If the Dragonsworn shows signs of an unpure heart, the gift would be taken away. It's the same underlying reason Frodo was tasked with bearing the Ring rather than Gandalf or Galadriel. This is like Captain America being gifted the Super Serum; the key is a strong heart that resists corruption. I think it would not be as interesting if it was just the Aspects appointing someone 'of a strong heart' like usual. Having Dragon Aspects not approve of the Dragonsworn gives them depth and conflict moving forward.

However, I think that this "pure heart" goes too far to paladin and makes some problems with genocide missions. I think that someone with "pure heart" wouldn't like to take a part in it, even if it would help his people.

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Yeah this is a good idea, need more melee in the game imo. Far too many ranged classes already and not enough demand for them in raid.

They never added a new caster class, so I would like one.

[Triceron]

However, I think that this "pure heart" goes too far to paladin and makes some problems with genocide missions. I think that someone with "pure heart" wouldn't like to take a part in it, even if it would help his people.

I think you're right. Pure heart might be the wrong word to use.

There's a scene from the terrible Green Lantern movie that stuck with me.

"The ring didn't see that you were fearless. It saw that you have the ability to overcome fear. It saw that you're courageous"

That's the sort of vibe I imagine for the Dragonsworn. They aren't exactly pure of heart, but they are strong willed. The Dragon souls grant their powers not because the Dragonsworn are immune to the dark, but because they can overcome inner darkness.